Connection Error
by saiditallbefore
Summary: When someone hacks into Kane Industries, Mac refuses to give up until she catches them. But this rabbit hole goes far deeper than she realizes...


Mac frowned at the computer screen and put her half-eaten sandwich down on her desk.

Someone was trying to access confidential Kane Industries files. And no matter how much she hated the company, Mac was one of their security specialists.

As she followed the hacker's movements, Mac realized they weren't a true hacker at all- there was no sign they had broken through the firewall.

That narrowed down the possibilities considerably. They had to have considerable access to get past the firewall and other security, but they didn't have access to the confidential files they were going after.

Had gone after. There was no sign left of the intruder.

Mac rubbed her temples. There was no way she was getting fired over a stupid mistake like this. This hacker was going down.

"Hey, Cindy! I'm going on a coffee run. Want anything?" Mac swivelled her chair around to see Mark, a new employee, smiling at her.

"Sixteen ounce hazelnut latte, triple shot." She was going to need the caffeine. "Thanks." She forced a smile, in an attempt to be friendly. Professionalism, and all that.

"Sure thing." Mark winked.

The hacker, for lack of a better word, had gotten access to the files he or she was looking for and had probably downloaded them. Whatever was in those files was probably important, and could point back to the hacker.

(God, Veronica had rubbed off on her.)

Mark returned with her latte, but Mac hardly noticed, she was so engrossed in tracking this stupid hacker. Oh well; she'd pay him back later.

There were only a few hours left in the work day, so Mac put tracking the hacker aside to finish her other work. She continued running checks on the Kane Industries databases and poked through the code on the backside of the public website.

It was hardly unusual for programmers of any kind to stay late at Kane Industries, so no one glanced twice at Mac when she stayed at her desk as they all filed toward the door. Normally she ditched this place as soon as possible, just like all of them. But there was no way to track this hacker from home, so she was stuck.

When the coast was clear, Mac quickly retraced the hacker's steps. She was pretty low in the pecking order at Kane Industries and didn't have any access to secure files- didn't even have access to the security around those particular files- but she knew enough to bypass the protocols without sending up any red flags. Breaking Kane's code was much easier from the inside than it was from the outside.

Not that she'd really tried to hack Kane Industries. Just that one hard drive, and that was a favor for Veronica.

(There were probably already a bunch of red flags in her KI file. "Friends with Veronica Mars" was probably stamped across the top.)

Mac pulled a personal flash drive out of her purse. This was breaking pretty much every rule in the book, but it's not like her personal morals were all that great.

Growing up in Neptune did that to a person.

She copied the three files the hacker had downloaded onto the drive. Just as the last file was copying, Mark walked by.

"You're here pretty late," he said.

Mac spun around, moving to block the monitor. "Just finishing a few things up. Trust me, I'm trying to get out of here."

"It can't be that bad," Mark said, leaning against the cubicle wall.

Mac shrugged. "Let's just say I'm not a fan of Jake Kane."

"How come?" Mark showed no sign of going anywhere.

This was not the conversation Mac wanted to be having right now, but if she moved, Mark would see the files she was downloading. And where to even start? All the reasons she hated Kane stemmed from Veronica. "I just don't have a lot of use for rich assholes, and this town is full of them."

Mark made a sympathetic face. "So you're from Neptune?"

Mac nodded. "Sadly, yes."

"Didn't Kane used to have kids?"

Mac chewed on the inside of her lip. He was weirdly interested in Jake Kane. Maybe he was just a random fanboy who got a job at Kane Industries, but that seemed unlikely.

As for the Kane kids, that question was a minefield. Lilly was easy enough to talk about; everyone knew about that. "You probably heard about his daughter," Mac said. "They found her body in the backyard- it was all over the national news. Aaron Echolls- that movie star- went on trial, but he was acquitted." Mac tried to sound unaffected, like she'd never heard of these people outside the news. Really, it didn't involve her. But Aaron Echolls had almost killed one of her best friends, and the anger was hard to keep out of her voice.

"And his son," Mac went on, "who knows? He got a girl pregnant, and after she died he kidnapped the kid and ran off. I heard he had a psychotic break after his sister died." She'd never been a fan of Duncan Kane, but those words felt needlessly cruel. It was glaringly obvious that Veronica had helped Duncan get out of the country, and she always had her reasons.

"That's awful," Mark said.

"Yeah," Mac said quietly. "Welcome to Neptune."

Mark waved. "See you tomorrow."

"Wait- I've got money for that coffee you got me."

He waved her away. "Don't worry about it."

When he was safely away, Mac turned back to her computer. Mark had been acting extremely suspicious. With a few keystrokes, she accessed his employee file.

Mark Jenson: born in Palmdale, California; graduated from Caltech a few years ago with a degree in computer science. Pretty standard Kane Industries recruit; the interviewer Mac had met with had been skeptical of her Hearst College degree and had only been convinced by her stellar portfolio.

And there was Mark's address. It wasn't on the '09er side of town, or even close. In fact, it was a few streets over from the house where Mac had grown up.

Mac downloaded his file onto her flash drive and wiped all traces of her illicit activity from her workstation. She walked out of the building, attempting to look casual, feeling the security cameras watching her every step.

Mac went home to her apartment and immediately changed from her business casual to her more normal clothes. Feeling more like herself, she got out her laptop. Time to get to work.

If Veronica were in town, Mac would ask for her help. She wasn't a detective, she was the cute hacker girl who helped the detective. But V had sucked it up and taken a week to pack up her things and cancel her lease in New York. She'd already put it off for a month and a half, and Mac wasn't going to give her another excuse.

So instead, Mac opened Mark's employee file and enlarged the photo of him, taken for his employee security badge. Who was he really? A corporate spy? She'd have to unencrypt those files he stole to see how likely that was, and it didn't explain the personal questions he'd asked about Jake Kane.

Maybe it wasn't even Mark. Maybe she was barking up the wrong tree while the real hacker got away.

On that laptop, Mac started an unencryption protocol she had designed so she could read those files. She copied the employee file onto another flash drive, pulled a second laptop from her bedroom, and opened up her backdoor to the LAPD database. Mark might not be in there, but she'd run his picture against their database anyway.

With those running, Mac cracked open a beer, reheated some spaghetti, and turned on the tv. After an hour of pretending to forget her problems with a convoluted drama she couldn't bring herself to care about, Mac checked her laptops. One of the three stolen files was unencrypted, but the other two still needed time.

It was when she checked the LAPD search that she got her real surprise.

Mark's picture matched up with one from Interpol. Only his name wasn't Mark Jenson; it was Alec Hardison, and he was wanted for a huge list of computer crimes, mostly involving fraud and identity theft.

Mac briefly considered checking Interpol for any other information in his file, but decided against it. She had enough to assume he most likely was the hacker.

But what was he doing at Kane Industries? Mac quickly dismissed that as unimportant. Maybe he was an industrial spy; maybe he was just doing this for kicks. What mattered was making sure she didn't lose her job over it.

Briefly, she considered taking what she knew to her boss. After all, she couldn't be held responsible for what a wanted criminal had gotten up to. But her boss and his higher-ups would want to know how she got her information.

So she had to stop him herself. Fine. She'd picked up a thing or two about breaking and entering from Veronica over the years; this should be a piece of cake. Veronica had even taught her to pick locks one day back in high school; hopefully Mac could still remember how to do it.

She glanced at the files that were being unencrypted- still one to go. God, she needed a better processor.

Mac slipped a dark hoodie on and got in her car, wishing for once that she drove something less recognizable than her little Bug. She drove carefully to Mark- no, Alec's house, keeping an eye out for cop cars. Not that they were likely to bother her, but better safe than sorry.

She drove down Mark- no, damnit, Alec's- street. Mac carefully noted which house was his. She couldn't see any lights on inside. Maybe he was asleep.

Mac parked down the street at a park and walked back toward Alec's house, trying not to look suspicious. She shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket, feeling the lock picks. She ducked into the yard of Alec's house- why was he staying in a house? Shouldn't a criminal be staying at the Grand or something?

She shook the thoughts aside. Time to concentrate.

Mac walked around the house into the back yard, still trying to look casual. She knelt down on the back patio and slipped the lock picks into the lock. She fiddled with them, moving them back and forth until she felt the tumblers click into place.

Mac turned the doorknob slowly, and opened the door. She was officially breaking and entering. Well, not breaking, but whatever.

She was in the kitchen. Mac closed the back door behind her and crept through the room. She just needed to find the laptop. Moving from the kitchen to the living room, she saw it, sitting on the coffee table. Mac looked around again, trying to assuage the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Mac grabbed the laptop and headed back for the backdoor. As she was about to slip outside and close the door behind her, someone grabbed her upper arm.

"Going somewhere?" he asked gruffly.

Mac turned toward him. It wasn't Alec. This man was much shorter, only a little taller than she was, with shaggy brown hair. He wasn't overly muscled, but his firm grip was enough to assure her that he was strong. He was dressed only in sweatpants, and looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

Time to brazen this out, then. "Just borrowing this back." She smiled.

"Right." The man pulled her into the living room. Alec was there, as was a wiry woman with blonde hair. Like the man who had accosted her, they both looked like they had just rolled out of bed.

"Cindy? You broke into my house?" Alec sounded absolutely appalled.

Mac was torn between addressing the use of her given name or the (totally justified) accusation of breaking and entering. After only a second's hesitation, she said, "You stole confidential files!"

So she was kind of a hypocrite. So what?

"Look, I had a good reason," he said seriously. "Jake Kane-"

"You're wanted by Interpol, Alec Hardison," Mac said. Alec raised his eyebrows; he must not have expected Mac to make that connection. "And your friends probably are, too. So how about you give me back those files, get out of Neptune, and I don't call the cops on you."

Alec dragged over a rolling chair and sat on it backwards, resting his arms on the backrest. He appraised Mac with a smirk. "You wouldn't know that unless you'd hacked Interpol."

"Sterling's going to die," the woman said gleefully.

The other man- who was still holding Mac by the upper arm- chuckled.

"I didn't hack Interpol," Mac said. Why bother, when there were so many easier targets to give her the same information?

Alec waved his hand, like it didn't matter whether she had or not. "Anyway, you should probably take a seat."

The dude holding her arm let go, and Mac sat in the nearest armchair. She thought about making a break for the front door, but decided against it. The woman was in between her and the door, and, anyway, she wasn't exactly athletic. Any of the people in this room could probably outrun her.

"This is Parker and Eliot," Alec waved at the woman and the other man. "We-"

"We help people," Parker broke in. "People who can't help themselves, who the law can't help."

Now this was interesting. Or else it was some sort of weird con they were trying to pull.

Mac crossed her arms. "I'm listening."

"We can't tell you everything," Eliot said gruffly. Mac just assumed he did everything gruffly.

"But it has to do with Jake Kane and Kane Industries." Mac wasn't as skeptical of this as she probably should have been. After all, Kane was a pretty shady guy.

"I'm pretty sure those files I took have the information we need to take him down," Alec said earnestly.

"Hardison," Eliot warned.

"It's cool- she hates Kane," Alec responded.

"I do," Mac said. "I just don't want to get fired. That's why I need the files back."

"If you hate Kane, why are you working for him?" Eliot asked.

Mac resisted the urge to rub her forehead. This was getting off-track fast. "Some of us have student loans to pay off."

"So you're working for Kane." Eliot sounded way judgmental for someone who was probably wanted by Interpol.

"You want to know my life story? My hacking credentials? My failed startup? I bet you'd love to hear the URL of the soft-core porn site I did the programming for," Mac said. Alec choked at that last sentence, but Mac totally refused to be ashamed of that, no matter what her parents said. "Anyway, he's not going to have that kind of information on his work computer."

"What do you mean?" Parker asked.

"Look, all the dirt on Kane is at his house. And there is some- or there was, eight years ago. He might have ditched it by now."

"What kind of dirt are we talking about?" Eliot asked.

Mac swallowed. She should have called Wallace, told him where she was going. That way if something happened, Veronica would know where to start looking for her. "I didn't see any of it firsthand," she hedged. "And you'd need a supercomputer to break through the security on the drive."

"But you did it," Alec said. "You stole a supercomputer?" He sounded impressed.

"It's not like that," Mac insisted.

"Why don't you start from the beginning," Alec suggested.

"This is important," Parker said. "Jake Kane has hurt people, and it's our job to stop him." There was an earnestness to her words that reminded Mac of Veronica or her dad. There weren't a lot of people who looked at all the shit in the world and fought it.

And maybe this was still a con. But Kane wasn't exactly innocent.

"My friend found out he had a hard drive with some information connecting him to The Castle- it's this super shady secret society. She brought it to me, and I used the supercomputer at Hearst to get through the firewalls. There was- I don't know what there was." That wasn't exactly true, but she'd had nightmares for weeks afterward about the Russian mob coming after her.

"That bad?" Eliot raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know if you'll find anything to put him away," Mac said nervously. "I don't think he's actually committed any crimes."

Parker smiled. She looked completely awake now. "Let us deal with that."

Well, that sounded ominous. "Okay, well that's the part where I leave." Mac picked up Alec's laptop and headed for the door.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Alec grabbed her arm. She tried to yank free, but he was stronger than he looked.

Mac was seriously getting tired of this.

"Look, you stole some sensitive data. I need to wipe it here, and wipe your trail at work before someone notices and I get fired."

Eliot blinked slowly at her. "You are seriously missing the point."

"I'm trying to keep my job." Not that she'd expect a bunch of criminals to understand that, but whatever.

"You're serious about this drive at Kane's house?" Alec looked straight in her eyes, like he could read the truth there.

"I'm serious." Mac paused, tried to think of what else she could bargain with.

(They were probably too nice to kill her if they couldn't find it- but she'd been wrong before.)

"If you can't find it, go to Mars Investigations and ask for Veronica." From their expressions, it was clear the name was familiar. Mac wondered if they'd talked to her already, or if they'd avoided her.

"Deal." Alec handed Mac the laptop. "It's a burner anyway, except for those files." He held out his hand.

Mac wondered for a moment about the kind of person who kept a burner laptop, then shook his hand.

"See you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Nah," Alec said. "Mark Jenson's going to take a sick day." He winked.

Mac nodded at Parker and Eliot, and headed for the door. She didn't breathe easily until she was in her car with the doors locked.

This secret agent stuff sucked. Maybe she'd call in sick tomorrow, too.


End file.
